Holding On
by followinggoodbyes
Summary: Set where Hermione becomes an Auror with Ron and Harry. On one mission, Ron and Hermione battle a group but can Ron protect his wife in battle?
1. A New Request

Author's Note: So! This little fanfiction is a suggestion from rhmac12. Thank you so much for those lovely suggestions! I will take all of them to account ;)

Backstory: After the war, Hermione did go to Hogwarts to finish her 7th year there however when she left, she went to go and join Ron and Harry as being Aurors. She successfully joined and has been one for 5 years. Ron and Hermione are a married couple who live in a flat, with no children.

Ron was finishing up in the shower when Hermione yelled from their bedroom.

"Ron! Hurry up or we'll be late…again!" She yelled, putting on her pearl earrings. She walked over to the mirror to look at herself before she and Ron left for work.

Ron rushed out of the bathroom, rubbing the towel in his hair in hope it would dry it faster.

Walking in front of Hermione and dropping his towel on the floor, he stood up straight.

"So? How do I look?" He asked jokingly.

"Normal" Hermione responded with a tone that had no emotion, annoyed they were running late. She walked over to the bedroom door.

Ron chuckled to himself before running to get his wife. He grabbed her waist from behind and lifted her up, kissing her all around.

"Ron! Hahah, Ron stop it! We're running la-Ron!" Hermione couldn't help but laugh and smile.

Ron laughed and dropped her to her feet, facing her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.

"Shall we?" Ron gave his arm to hook around Hermione's arm.

"We shall" Hermione smiled and took his arm and began to walk to the ministry of magic entrance.

*Later that Day*

Ron was sitting in his cubicle which was down the hall from Hermione's. He sat back in his chair and kicked his feet up right when he got a call from the secretary, making him jump back into a 'professional' stance in his seat.

"Auror Weasley?" She asked.

"Y-yes?" Ron replied, clearing his throat.

"The head of the Auror Department would like to talk to you and your wife"

"Oh, ok tell him we'll been in in a few minutes" Ron responded, getting up from his seat to find Hermione.

He found Hermione sitting at her desk, reading a book of course (which she seemed very interested in).

"Hey, 'Mione?" Ron interrupted her reading. Looking up from her book, she smiled as she saw it was Ron.

"Hey, anything wrong?"

"Um, no I don't think. Just Reynolds wants to see us in his office"

Hermione sat up from her seat and straightened her skirt.

"Huh, I wonder what's going on" She walked to the exit of her cubicle and walked to Reynolds' office with Ron.

They came to the office doors. Ron opened it and let Hermione walk in first, soon following her inside.

Reynolds, the head of the Auror Department, was sitting in a large chair at a very large desk that was covered in all sorts of documents, laws, and letters.

Reynolds was a middle-aged man, who had a slight double chin and was balding in the middle of his head.

"Ah, Auror Wealsey and –oh, Auror Weasley, I've brought you two here today in a request for a mission" He said in an all serious tone.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other before staring back at Reynolds.

"A mission? The two of us?" Ron asked. The two of them had never done a mission together before.

"Yes, this mission may be a tricky one as well. You see, what we're dealing with is a master mind wizard who's been working with a muggle. We've come to believe that the two of them are plotting some sort of rebellion against the Ministry of Magic, considering we've been observing them for a quite a while now"

"And what will we do then? Hermione asked, feeling a little nervous.

"Well, seeing you two are one of the top Aurors here, we thought it'd be best of putting you two together to find these guys and do what you do best, _stop them_" Reynolds told them, smiling at the end of the sentence.

Ron's mind raced with all sorts of horrible thoughts.

"_Oh god, if these guys are that bad Reynolds needs both of us, something could happen to Hermione…no, I won't let it happen, I won't…"_


	2. Emotions Running Wild

Later that night, after work, Ron and Hermione were lying in their bed, Hermione reading and Ron doing what he usually did, staring off into space deeply thinking. Ron's thoughts were bothering him as they were all about Hermione and how this mission would turn out.

Ron looked over to see Hermione pleasantly reading her book, looking beautiful.

"'Mione?" He asked, still staring straight ahead, looking at nothing.

"Yeah?" She responded, still reading.

"I don't know about this...mission" He turned his head slowly, afraid to see her reaction. Hermione looked up, dropped her book on her lap and sat up.

"What do you mean?" She seemed very intrigued now.

"Well, I mean…what if something you know…_happens_ to you" Ron said, sounding very unsure, debating whether he should just drop the conversation.

Hermione scuffed and laughed to herself in annoyance.

"No, I'm serious, Hermione. What if something happens to you, these guys are serious"

"And what if _nothing _happens to me, Ronald? You can't always assume that I'm going to get in the way of your Auror work and get hurt or act stupid and try and get myself killed. You know I've been on _hundreds _of these missions and not _once _have I gotten seriously injured. Yes, maybe a few scratches here and there or a broken bone but-

"But this time is different! Now, it's me who's coming with you, and now it's my responsibility to keep you safe, instead of those idiots who never helped protect you in the past…" Ron mumbled the last few words though Hermione caught it.

"Ron, sweetie, _nothing _will happen that shouldn't happen, you got that?" Hermione stared in his eyes, hoping to see some flicker of understanding. Ron sighed and smiled a little to signal he got what she was trying to say.

"Yeah, alright….But if _anyone _tries to pull something on you, I will not stop to make sure they don't move again" Ron said with all seriousness in his tone of voice.

"And I respect and admire that of you, Ronald" Hermione stood up on her knees to kiss Ron on the lips.

They released and sat back down.

"So, what time do we leave in the morning, then?" Hermione asked, getting back into her book.

"Bright and early around 5 in the morning, we're heading to Cardiff" Ron replied, getting under the covers to go to sleep.

"Right, sounds good" Hermione looked at him.

"Goodnight" She bent down to kiss him on the head.

"Night" Ron kissed her back and closed his eyes.

Author's Note: Ok so this chapter was just put in to get the emotions of Ron and Hermione on the whole mission out there. But NEXT chapter will be where things start to get moving into the plot ;) Don't worry, hopefully up by tomorrow?


	3. Discovery

A/N: Yeah, OK, so I lied…it's been more than a day . So sorry! It's just that school's started and I'm getting back into the regular schedule of staying after school, hanging with friends and of course doing _some_ homework ;) Hope this chapter satisfies your hunger for reading more!

Ron and Hermione arrived at the Ministry at 5 sharp in the early morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet so the surrounding area of London, as well as inside the Ministry, was dark and empty. Ron and Hermione were dressed in their Auror outfits, not their usual Ministry apparel.

All night, Ron had dreamt of the most horrible things about how this mission could end up going wrong (specifically involving Hermione). Scenes like her being captured and held at wand point or her being hit with an unforgivable curse like the cruciatus or worse the killing curse, and so on.

The two Aurors walked towards Reynolds' office to get the folder that held the information on where to aparate exactly and what times they should know. But before Ron had reached the doorknob to turn it and step inside, he and Hermione had noticed it had already been opened, but the doors had been hanging from their hinges.

Hermione gasped and turned to Ron, grabbing his arm.

"Ron…" Hermione said uneasily, staying in place. Ron looked down at her and touched her arm with his hand reassuringly.

"S'alright, Hermione. I-I'll go check, k? But you stay here" Ron told Hermione, slowly lifting her hand off his arm so he could check out the room.

"No, no, Ron. If you're going in and risking your life then I'm going too" Hermione said to Ron, furry in her eyes. Ron sighed and gave her a half smile to signal it was ok but he didn't like it.

Hermione grabbed her wand from her back pocket and slowly stepped towards the door along with Ron. Ron was in a stance that if anyone jumped out at them, he could easily shoot them with his wand and defend him and Hermione.

When they were at the door, Hermione took a step closer and jumped into the room, wand at the ready. Ron sucked in air sharply, anticipating curses and spells to be shooting though none came. Relief came to him and he sighed loudly.

Hermione looked back at him and moved her head to tell him to come on inside. Ron did as she told and walked into the room.

The room, Reynolds' office, was a complete mess: papers _everywhere_, his desk was cut in half, some blood on the floor but not too much, portraits hanging off the walls and even more.

_What the bloody hell happened here? _Ron thought to himself, eventually saying it out loud so Hermione head.

"I don't know, but I bet you _anything _it was those 2 guys we were about to go after…" Hermione bent down to pick up a folder and skimmed through the pages.

"Bloody hell, how'd they know we were gonna, you know?" Ron pretended to shot spells out of his wand to act out what would've happened.

All Hermione did was grunt in confusion to what had happened and continued reading through the pages.

"Reynolds' was right, these men are criminals, like _criminals. _I think they took him, Reynolds'. Bloody hell, Hermione! What're we gonna do? We're the only ones who know about these 2 since this mission was confidential! We're going up masterminds! They're incredibly smart! They-they're-

"Not so intelligent seeing as they forgot one bit…the paper that had the information on where to find them…" Hermione said, a huge grin appearing on her face. She was still holding the folder but the paper with the data on the 2 men was tight in her other hand.

Ron laughed slightly and ran to Hermione to hug her and lift her off her feet.

"You. Are. _Brilliant, _Hermione!" Ron told her. Hermione laughed in response and squirmed out of Ron's hold and clasped her hands together.

"Enough with the celebrating, we need to leave…_now._"


	4. Paranoia Becoming Reality

From what Hermione and Ron had read from the file on the two men, one was indeed from America, Oregon to be exact, and the other from Cardiff. It was still written that their base was in Cardiff as well, so being in a hurry, Hermione and Ron had aparated there as soon as they could get their hands clasped together tightly.

Their feet landed on concrete road, their location being some sort of narrow abandoned alleyway, walls on each side with only 1 door on each side of them. It was nighttime already, Ron guessing it was about midnight. There were no people walking by, no cars and no street lights; only the moon shining down to light their way.

Ron turned to face Hermione who was standing stiff as a rock next to him, her breathing becoming steadier as she pulled herself together.

"I think we should split up, Ron. You take that door to your right and me, the door on your left, alright?" She said, her voice sounding like she was talking to an official colleague or someone who she had no feelings for.

"Hermione, I-I don't think that's so safe. What if you open the door that leads to them?" Ron asked her, confused to why she'd put herself in danger.

"If I do open the door that leads to them, that'd be _good_. Ron, we're _trying _to find these men, remember? We came looking for them and if our fears and anxieties overtake us and make us forget our mission, then we won't succeed in _anything_" Hermione told him. She turned to face Ron, who was already facing her, and stood on her toes. There, she kissed him deeply and wrapped her arms around him, Ron doing the same. They stood like that for about a minute before Hermione released and stood back, reaching for her back pocket to grab her wand.

"If you see or hear anything or anyone, you call for me" Ron told Hermione, trying his best to keep her safe without making her feel overprotected.

"I will, I promise" She told him, kissing him once more on the lips before completely walking away from him and towards her door. Ron kept staring at her, even long after she left him, and eventually came back into reality, walking towards his door.

Hermione held her wand tight in her grip before reaching her other hand out to the doorknob. At the same time, Ron was doing the same.

Having counted to 3, Hermione breathed in deeply then kicked the door wide open and jumped inside, her wand ready to shoot. Ron turned his head as he heard the loud sound of the door being forced open. All he saw inside the room, from the short distance he was away from it, was darkness, not even the form of Hermione.

Knowing Hermione and how she would call for him if things were happening, Ron bust open his door also. He jumped inside the dark room with his wand pointed at nothing.

"Lumos" Ron whispered, slowly seeing what the room looked like. His room had contained only tables, chairs and papers all over the floor. Seeing a staircase in front of him, Ron made his way cautiously to it.

He climbed the stairs slowly, finally reaching the top. The top level had no difference to the lower level, except for the fact there was an entire wall made up of windows. There was no sign of any type of life inside the small building.

Giving up on his building, Ron began to make his back to the stairs. But when he placed his foot at the top step, he heard his worst nightmare in the distance.

"Ron!" Hermione had screamed in a terrified and agonized in pain tone of voice. Ron's reaction of fear and guilt had him jumping 3 steps at a time and running to the other building to find his wife.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I really love reading reviews! It gives me the confidence to keep writing and it helps let me know some people are actually reading this story ;) I hope to update by tomorrow seeing it's my last day of the weekend! Review!


	5. Hermione's POV

Hermione's POV:

As soon as I had counted to 3, my right leg blasted open the front door, leading me into room a completely dark room. That was all I saw, darkness; no lighting or sound whatsoever.

I breathed in and out deeply, getting a bit anxious and frightened. But I knew Reynolds was in danger and those men _had_ to be found and put in Azkaban. So, I walked further into nothingness and tried to adjust my eyes to the dark.

I found my eyes seeing some of the outlines or a few things but not everything completely. From what I could tell, the room had a few small tables with lamps in random spots on the floor. Then, remembering I had my wand, feeling stupid that I had forgot, I cast _lumos_ and the section my wand was pointing at came into clear view.

There indeed had been lamps and tables around the room. But the thing that had caught my attention was the farthest wall as it had another door. I guessed it would lead me to some sort of basement if not another room on this floor like a bathroom.

I gulped and gripped my wand tighter in my hand as I walked cautiously toward the door and reaching out to the doorknob. Slowly turning it, it opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down to a basement. I sighed in annoyance and looked back to the front door that led me to Ron.

_I'll just go down to see what's there then go straight back up…_

I stepped onto the first step slowly to watch for any creaking noises that would catch the attention of anyone. I placed my foot firmly on the step and saw it made no noise. I sighed in relief and began to make my way down the steps. I turned my head and wand to look to my left, as there was a wall to my right, and saw a very small room with a neat line of chairs and something else that caught my eye.

On the back wall, there was a whiteboard that had scribbled writing all over it. I stepped off the staircase and began to walk into the room and to the whiteboard to get a better look. The scribbled writing that I had saw from a distance had been the writing of multiple names and then what looked like a small diagram of the inside of the Ministry of Magic, rooms labeled and everything.

Seeing as this must have been the room where the 2 men, and from the looks of all the chairs more men too, had been planning their rebellions on the Ministry, I conjured up a piece of paper and a pen, quickly writing all the names that had been written on the whiteboard.

But when I was in the middle of writing the last name of the list, I heard a creak from behind me. My hand stopped writing and stayed in place on the piece of paper. I slowly put down the paper and pen on one of the chairs gripped my wand in my hand. I turned to face the person behind me very quickly and aimed my wand.

The lumos spell had still been on so it revealed who was behind me. It was a man, a man who made my skin crawl by his appearance. He was standing straight but had this creepy smile on his face, like he was _happy_ I was there. His hair looked greasy and his clothes looked like something Snatchers would have worn during the Second Wizarding War. I stood in place with my wand still pointed at him.

"Hello, lovely" Was all the man had said. That sentence alone gave me goosebumps. Suddenly, he started to walk toward me. I back up instinctively and aimed my wand firmer.

"Who are you?" I asked straight forwardly. I kept my eyes looking at him to show I had no fear.

"Don't worry, love, I ain't gonna hurt 'ya" The man said, still walking to me. He was twirling his fingers and kept his head at a slight angle, his smile still spread across his face.

"Stay where you are or I'll have no choice but to-

"To what, darling? You gonna kill me, hex me?" The man interrupted Hermione. By now, he was right in front of her, almost touching.

"You don't look like the hexing type, love" He told her, caressing his fingers across her cheek.

"Wh-Why can't I move?" I asked him, becoming extremely scared at this point. My breathing became very un-even and I stuttered a little.

"Shhh, I ain't gonna hurt 'ya" He repeated, his smile still on his face. He was trying to make me reassured but his act was far from reassuring. I kept staring at him until I saw his eyes move to behind me.

"But he might" The man said, pointing a little behind me. I found myself able to move my again, but only barely. I turned my head and faced another man. Before I could aim my wand the man punched me in the face, making me fall over to the hard cold floor and grunting in pain.

The second man bent down and grabbed me hard on the shoulders and brought me up. He tried to hold onto me through my struggles and wiggles of trying to get out of his grasp.

"Ron! Ron! Ro-

I stopped screaming when the man gave me another blow, making me flip out of his arms and hit against a wall. I grunted in pain once more and stayed still on the ground. I felt myself losing consciousness but I knew I had to stay awake…Ron was coming for me now, even if he was a hundred miles away, I knew he'd come for me.

My thoughts were interrupted when the first man grabbed me and hoisted me over his shoulder, making their way into another room in the basement, kicking the door shut with his foot.

A/N: Mwahaha, another cliff hanger! I know, I'm kinda evil I hope you enjoyed Hermione's POV and remember to review! I hope everybody stays safe today and remembers the sacrifices of all those who had died with no hope or those who had died fighting.

We remember 9/11.


	6. Tragedy Sets In

Ron's POV

As soon as I heard my name from my wife's mouth screamed, I went into attack mode and ran out of that building as fast as my legs would allow me to run.

I saw the front door to the building Hermione was in was still opened and I ran right inside, lumos still cast on my wand. I stopped in the first room and turned in all directions, hoping for another sign from Hermione to tell me where she was.

"HERMIONE!" I yelled, hoping for a response. I gulped and saw a staircase at the book of the room. Having that be my only guess to where she might be, I made my way upstairs, taking 2 steps at once. I came into yet another dark room but this time, there was no furniture or windows like the building I was in before.

"Hermione!" I tried again, but still no response.

Hermione's POV

When the door had shut, I was thrown off the man's shoulders and onto the floor. I gathered my posture and stood up straight. My hands moved to my back pocket instinctively but I noticed that nothing was inside.

"Ah, looking for this, mudblood?" The second man had said teasingly, holding my wand in his fingers.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble" I told the two men inside the room with me. It was like all my part Auror experience and missions had never mattered, and I forgot how to be clever and smart to get me out of situations like this. But how did they who I was?

The two men looked at each other when I had said what I said then looked back to me. They smiled and laughed a little. The man on the left sighed and walked toward me.

"Don't play games with us, missy. We know what you want. You want your precious Reynolds back and then you wanna take us to Azkaban, right?" He told me. I thought about what I should say to make him feel fearful, or even a little scared at least.

"Listen, backup is coming. I'm _not _alone" I warned them.

"Ha, funny enough, missy, I don't think we believe you. Now, we wouldn't want anyone, let's say, _finding out _where our headquarters is. And seeing you're the only one who had access to our file, I'd say, we shouldn't just let you go so easily…" He said. He continued to walk to me. I backed up as far as I could, eventually hitting a wall.

"I swear, if you don't put a stop to what you're doing-

"Shh, it's alright, love" He said quietly. He was now right in front of me, pressing against my body. He put his hands on my cheeks and cupped my face.

"Get your hands _off _me" I told him strictly. But the man only laughed and stared at me.

"Looks like we've got a feisty one, eh?" He said, making me shiver. Then, doing the thing I hoped he wouldn't, he pressed his lips against mine hardly and began to forcefully kiss me, pressing against me further. I squealed in my mouth and pressed my hands against his chest and push him off of me. I finally got the strength to push him and he fell back, still standing though.

He looked dishonored in a way and embarrassed. He raised his hand and my eyes widened. His hand flew down onto my face and he slapped me hard. The blow was so hard I flew onto the floor, hitting my head against it. I cried out in pain loudly, not noticing the two men laughing at me.

The man who hit me walked over to me and kicked me in my gut. I screamed a little and gasped for breath as he knocked the wind out of me. I choked and got on my knees, my hands resting on the floor, gasping for air.

This made the two men only laugh harder at my pain. The first man who had told me he wouldn't hurt me came to me and bent down to face level.

"So, you're Ministry folk then, right?" He asked me. I turned to face him, finally catching my breath, and spat in his face. Then, breaking his word, he slapped me once more on the face, causing me to cry out in pain again.

Ron's POV

I began to feel tears coming in my eyes, knowing that Hermione might be hurt or in trouble and I had no way of knowing where she was. Then, just like someone had heard my distress, I heard it…another scream from Hermione.

I jumped to my feet and heard her from downstairs. I practically jumped off the staircase, missing almost all the steps and landed on the floor hard, almost losing my balance. I stopped for a moment until I heard voices coming from somewhere.

I moved my wand around the room until I found it, a door.

_How could I have missed that before?_

I ran to the door, yanked it open and ran down the dark staircase, not caring about my own safety. I landed on the floor and saw another room, but the thing that caught my attention was another door.

Seeing that no one was inside this room, I ran to the door I saw and hesitated before reaching for the doorknob. I twisted it and it pulled open to a very small room that had a light that barely produced any lighting, but enough to see what was in there.

Inside, I saw a man in the corner, who was laughing before I came in, and a man bent on the floor that was looking at someone else. That was when I saw her, Hermione was on the floor, and her face was a bit bloody. Her eyes were only just open, looking off into nothing.

"Hermione…" I said to myself before looking at the man who was next to Hermione.

"Who the _hell _are you?" He shouted before I punched him in the face, making him unconscious. The man in the corner gasped and ran out the door and out of the basement.

I ran to Hermione and helped her up on her feet.

"Hermione, Hermione you alright?" I asked her, knowing she was definitely not alright. Hermione nodded and gained her stance.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine" She said un-easily, her voice a bit hoarse.

"Hermione I think it's best if you stay here, I'll go upstairs and get the guy, alright?" I told her, hoping she'd understand my thoughts.

Thankfully, she saw the light and nodded in agreement.

"Alright, yeah I'll perform a temporary memory charm on this guy (she pointed to the unconscious man who I had punched) so when we take him to Azkaban he won't through a fit" She laughed a little and stared at me.

"Good luck" She told me, kissing me on the lips.

I smiled at her, glad she was OK. I ran out of the room and up the stairs to catch the guy, which wasn't so hard as he was standing right at the doorway, looking at me.

*No one's POV*

Hermione sighed and walked over to the man who had slapped her last. She looked at him before grabbing her wand that was dropped on the floor. She stood up and pointed her wand at the man. But, before she could say anything, the man's hand grabbed Hermione's ankle and yanked it, making her fall onto the floor and hitting her head once more.

"Ah!" She yelled in pain, rubbing her head before getting back up. The man, who she thought to be unconscious, stood up as well.

"Now, now, now, missy. You're not going anywhere…" He threatened her.

"Yeah? Look who's got no wand?" She told him, feeling confident. The man looked down to see he had indeed no wand with him.

"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled at the man, causing him to be stunned, hitting the wall and falling into unconsciousness once more.

During these events, Ron had found the man upstairs, standing at the front door as if he was waiting for him.

Ron stopped at the top of the stairs before slowly making his way towards the man.

"Hello there, Ginger" The man said to Ron. Ron's annoyance built up more and more each time he spoke.

"Where's Reynolds?" Ron demanded. The man had laughed and kicked at the floor.

"That old geezer? Well, if you _must _know, he's at a secret location, we're keeping him all nice and safe…"

Ron reached into his back pocket and grabbed a small bottle.

"And that would be?" The man asked, trying to hide his fear of what it could be.

"This would be something we call in the Wizarding World, Veritaserum…" Ron told the man, trying to make it sound as intimidating as possible.

The muggle's eyes widened and Ron stepped closer to him. Ron cast a body-binding curse on him, causing the man to stay as stiff as a rock as Ron forced the potion into his mouth.

"Now, tell me where Reynolds is…" Ron demanded an answer this time.

"…Und-under the stair…under the staircase that leads upstairs" He told Ron, sounding like he wished he was else-where.

"Thank you" Ron thanked the man sarcastically, released the body bind curse and walked away from the man and toward the staircase.

"She's lovely…" The man taunted Ron. Ron turned around to face the man who was talking about _his _wife.

"Excuse me?" Ron asked, feeling the anger boil up in his face.

"The thing downstairs, she sure did pick a fight, but she's still a _great _kisser" The man taunted Ron more and more.

Ron ran to the man grabbed his jacket in his fist.

"You mention ANYTHING about you touching my wife AGAIN and I SWEAR I'll kill you now!" Ron threatened the man. He only laughed at Ron's anger until Ron punched him in the face for kissing Hermione.

"You're a pig…" Ron told the man before returning to find Reynolds.

"Well, now that you mention it, I _did _slap 'er, and punch her and-

Before he finish his sentence though, Ron was already back to him, punching him furiously.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT?" Ron yelled at him. However, the man punched Ron back, making Ron stumble backwards.

The man shrugged before saying, "Couldn't resist myself, sunny", before reaching behind to his back pocket to grab a gun.

"Now, walk slowly to me and give me your wand or I'll shoot"

Ron gulped and stared at the man.

"No, NEVER!"

Just then, Hermione was making her way up the stairs and into the main room where Ron and the muggle man was. But right when her feet hit the ground level, she heard a shot ring throughout the room. She turned to see the man who had hit her and violated her had shot a gun at Ron.

Thinking about Ron's safety, Hermione ran to where Ron was, which was also the direction of the bullet, and stood in front of Ron. Almost immediately after she got in front of Ron, the bullet hit her square in the chest, and she fell to the ground on her side, hearing screams from Ron.

A/N: Woa, ok yeah I didn't think I'd update another chapter today but MAN that was long. I'm tired now. Might take a nap or do yoga XD Oh and rhmac12 already knows this but who else knew about this scene that they cut out in Deathly Hallows Part 1? 

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	7. Final Chapter

Authors' Note: Oh my, yes it has been A WHILE. SO SORRY! School has been hectic and I've been studying my brains out. So this will be the last chapter of this little story and I hope you've enjoyed it!

*Hermione's POV*

My eyes had trouble opening as I saw bright light trying to come into sight. I let myself open them fully to reveal a small hospital room, Ron sleeping in a chair next to my bed. I looked around to see it was the afternoon and there were no nurses or doctors inside the room with us. I took this as a chance to talk to Ron alone.

"R-Ron" I tried calling out, my voice extremely hoarse for some reason. I tried sitting up to see if it'd open up my lungs a little more so he'd hear me but it only caused intense amounts of pain to shoot through my stomach and chest area. I whimpered loudly and slumped back into my laying position. Ron had heard me cry out in pain since right away I saw his eyes shoot open and he ran to me.

"Hermione! You're awake! What's wrong? You ok?" He asked me. Question after question he asked me and I had no answer. I wasn't sure what had exactly happened and why I was in a hospital…and why Ron was worried about me so much.

"I-I'm fine, just some pain here and there, but…Ronald what exactly had happened?" I asked Ron. Ron's face sank. I think he dreaded about having to tell the story to why I was in the hospital. He sat on the edge of my hospital bed and took my hands in his.

"Well, when I was upstairs with the muggle man in that building, he aimed a gun at me. He was demanding that I'd give him my wand so I'd be defenseless but I refused. And right when he shot the gun, you came running up the stairs and you-

Ron choked up and started to cry a little. He gained his masculinity and cleared his throat.

"You blocked it from me; you took the bullet for me…" Ron said before fully crying into his arm.

"Ron…Ron shhh. It's ok, I'm ok" I tried to reassure him, obviously not working though.

"No, Hermione! I told you before we started this mission that I'd protect you more than those bastards last time who had no intention of protecting their partner…I told you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and what happened? You almost died because you tried to save _my _life…"

We both sat in silence until I put my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Ron…" I said very quietly. His head came up and he looked extremely confused.

"What? What on Earth did you do, Hermione?"

"Nothing, really, but I just hate having to see you like this. Blaming yourself for something that happened because of me, I-

I was cut off by Ron who had cupped my face and kissed me deeply. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I tried to do the same but failed because of my injuries. I grunted in pain and fell back against my pillows.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hermione!" Ron apologized.

"No, no don't be sorry…It'll go away soon, the pain…" I told him.

He hugged me softly for a few minutes until the thought of something that was rather important popped up into my mind.

"Wait- what about those two men? The ones we were trying to catch?" I asked Ron. He sighed then smiled.

"Well, about right after you were shot, Kingsley had came with backup and they arrested the two men. We found Reynolds in the spot the man told us he was in and we brought you back to the hospital. As you can tell, though, this is a muggle hosipital" He told me, looking a bit guilty at the last sentence.

I stared at him to soak everything in. He was incredible, Ron.

"I love you…_so _much" I told Ron. He gave me the sweetest smile I've ever seen and kissed me on the lips.

"I love you too…and thank you for saving my life" He whispered to me. I smiled and pulled back to my seat.

"Anytime" I said with a smirk.


End file.
